On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:27:03 -0500, Seth Goodman wrote
Adding authentication to the ubiquitous SMTP protocol set is a different
kind of problem, and is not really amenable to being solved by a few
key players in a closed environment. There are simply too many
stakeholders due to its near-universal usage and any solution that
is to be deployed must have a broad consensus. Making it more
difficult is the fact that not all the stakeholders are profit-
making corporations, so an industry consortium is not even the right
vehicle to attack this problem.
This is a really key point.
Most of the early implementors are going to be open-source software authors.
Many of those people are on this list. Without the cooperation of these
innovators, things aren't going to get very far. I think it's misguided of
Meng to dismiss these vital individuals in favor of a private group.
Microsoft is a follower in this area, not a leader; their email servers tend
to be a step or two behind the state of the art, and I doubt they have any
running SPF checking code yet.